He could blink one eye, he was certain of that despite the fact that the darkness of the chasm floor and the darkness witnessed by a closed eye in the dark were no different. It wasn't a testament of sight that supported his assumption but one of control. He could control one eyelid, the eyelid was all he could feel of his body.
And so Leba Vigon blinked his eye. He blinked hard whenever he felt himself slipping away, whenever he couldn't tell the difference between sight and control. But within his mangled body was the truth that he was going to die and every second felt borrowed.
Do I have regrets? Of course he did. There were women he'd never gotten to fuck because he believed he had the time to tease. He'd never experienced war and Desan had taunted him over it by calling him a coward and a weakling unworthy of the Jojoh Meena. That was indeed Desan's foremost thought, the blessing of the Goddess. His late brother had seen him as a rival from the time they had become aware of their place in life, never once had he considered him one of same blood. But should he blame Desan? Their father treated him the same way. What blame should the son carry for emulating the father? A father whose existence served as the son's ultimate goal.
But Desan had been wrong. Leba wasn't afraid of war, just like Desan he'd been fed the stories of his ancestors. Those who went on conquests that never failed. Those who could fight without the need of Forms. Those with the Jojoh Meena. Just like Desan he'd dreamt of the crown and what came with it. He always wondered why his father never chose to see that. Why-
Blink, blink, bli-
He couldn't open his eye, he felt a chill at the back of the head that seemed to come from a wetness all around him.
The smell of blood grew faint.. fainter... Fainter Then darkness.
"You fool!" A female voice said.
Leba opened his eyes to find himself kneeling in a field of golden grass with two beings standing before him. He could feel his legs, his arms. He breathed in deep and reveled in the warmth of the sun upon his skin... Sun?
He looked up and saw four suns, circling each other and serving as an unending miasma to those who detested light.
"I told you to run Selarch! To run!" The woman said, forcing him to turn to her. Light bent where it hit her pale white skin and shimmering rainbows danced around her from the effect. Her flowing red dress seemed to do just that, flow around her body like rivers upon the land, sticking to a specific course that served to leave little to the imagination. She was beautiful.
Wait... Selarch?
Leba turned his gaze to the tall burly man in a white fur coat and outdated attire. There was a hardness to the man's face as if he had been sharpened by his environment for the sole purpose of war. And the grey of his eyes, they were too much like—
"You abandoned me Meena!" Selarch said. Leba gasped at the mention of the woman's name forcing him to turn his eyes back to her. Selarch spoke while glaring at him and Meena stood an arm's length away from Selarch with steady red eyes regarding the burly man and a slight twist at the end of her blood red lips the only indication of her discomfiture.
"He was channeling Ovek at the God's purest form, the Kolotian has broken the threshold of his limits and a mortal mind isn't suppose to be able to do that ... should not be able to do that... no mind can attempt such a feat for it means the ultimate collapse of itself which is something that the mind should never be able to take into consideration for self destruction is against evolution." She stomped her foot causing a slight tremor of the ground before crossing her arms and turning away from Selarch, her golden hair got tagged by the warm breeze. "He channeled Chaos at its purest form, Chaos. The Kolotian must have been mad-"
"Do you love him?" Selarch asked, eyes still fixed on Leba.
Meena turned to him. "The Kolotian? Have I not purged you free of the insanity he placed upon you?" Selarch didn't respond. "I could not have intervened, Ishar was close to ascension. He could... Harm me." She was answered by silence. Meena turned to Leba and gave him an even smile that showed even teeth. "Leba Vigon is it? Well, look at him Selarch darling. Isn't he a fine specimen?"
"He is broken." Selarch spoke, his voice deep with distaste.
"Nothing that I can't fix, of course you'd have to recuperate for a while in this hole the fool has thrown himself into."
"He is worthless. Desan was better, healthier, sharper, more determined and with a better physique. He had made a name for himself before I even took him, his rage was a thing of beauty." Selarch spat and pointed at Leba. "This one I neglected for a reason."
"Where is my father?" Leba asked with a trembling voice.
Meena flashed her smile once more at him where he knelt. "He stands beside me dear, but not to worry about that. You have been chosen for the Jojoh Meena! Isn't that wonderful darling? Isn't it what you've always wanted, Leba? Power?"
"This is not my father!" Leba shouted while pointing at Selarch Vigon. The barbarian smiled revealing one brown tooth.
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"I am your father Leba. I am Selarch Vigon, the first to take the blessing. The one you knew as Vayin was long gone before you were sired. He gave his body to me so the blessing could live on through blood.
Just as you will do now."
Leba shifted his gaze from Selarch, he faced the ground that was bathed in a golden light and the crest of his shadow around his body was a sharp contrast to the vibrant nature of wherever he was. But the contrast was short lived as all became a blur as tears welled in his eyes. He had never had a father, the one who would have been his father had only been so in flesh alone, his spirit and so his mind had been long gone and in its place had been the spirit of Leba's greatest ancestor, the one who had brought upon him the weight of the legacy he'd lived under for the majority of his life. The realization of all this added to the weight upon him and he sagged with sorrow. I never had a father. He sobbed.
"I hate it when they start crying." Meena said. "It's not that bad, kid, you just relinquish your spirit to me and I'll take you to Tabrimas and I'll leave your body here for Selarch to use to continue our mission. He'll take over the hard stuff that would have plagued your life and all the while you'll be in paradise. Now, just say the wor-"
Leba raised his head and what was on his face must have startled the Goddess into abrupt silence. "I refuse. Leave me to my death."
Selarch tilted his head back and laughed before turning to Meena. "Remember the one who said the same thing? How many days of torture did he require to break?"
"I can't recall darling, I was basking for most of the time." Meena said before giving Selarch a smile, "I'm glad your brooding mood is done with, it was becoming boring."
Selarch's jovial expression receded and in its place was forced nonchalance as he turned to Leba. "I don't want to torture you, it's tedious work so just relinquish your spirit so we can be done with. Time here works different, a second outside can be a hundred years within if the Goddess wishes. I have all the time in the world to make you say the words."
Leba hadn't known it before, that there was a childlike innocence harbored deep within him that craved a future that was separate from the consequences that came of the monstrosity of his deeds. A future filled with love, peace and reconciliation. Reconciliation between him and his father born not of one side surrendering to the other but of a mutual recognition that mistakes were made and hence resulting in the closing of the bridge between them.
I never had a father.
The part of him he never knew he had collapsed, making him aware of it. It disappeared into oblivion and in its place was a despair so loud it numbed him with its shrieks. Shrieks that morphed into a beckoning past the gates of oblivion into a darkness that is more than the absence of light.
The four suns disappeared and in their place was darkness. The grass seemed to turn to ash and Leba found himself kneeling on white marble ground that was surrounded by a circle of endless darkness. He wiped the tears off his eyes and lifted his head to the two who'd been addressing him to find they were two no more.
A third figure stood between them, a head and a half taller than the burly man with skin that appeared grey with decay. It had its huge hands resting over the shoulders of both Meena and Selarch, exposing long iron claws that seemed dug into Selarch's white coat and Meena's pale skin. The Goddess visibly trembled, all haughtiness gone.
"Order, looking lovely. What was that word you never can keep out of your mouth? Ah, yes, darling! Looking lovely darling." The being said, a long tongue jutting out of its mouth between large serrated teeth inlaid in a wide mouth. It had its head turned to Meena and regarded her with dark orbs for eyes.
"Locha." She said one word yet the fear drenched upon it soaked into Leba's skin and had his hair standing on end.
Selarch Vigon abruptly turned, gold sword appearing just as suddenly within his right hand as he whirled and drove the weapon into Locha's midriff. He kicked free of the being's grasp and rolled away while withdrawing his sword before raising it for an upward finishing thrust as he rebounded. Locha swiped his clawed hand once before Selarch Vigon and the man stopped in his tracks. Selarch lowered his arms and the sword fell free from his grasp, disappearing immediately it hit the ground without a sound. Selarch bowed his head and stood still with his back to Leba.
"Who is this awfully rude man?" Locha asked while running a finger into the gash where the sword had sunk into his midriff. Ash fell free of where he touched and in its wake was sealed decaying skin. The gash was no more.
"He is mine, Locha. Forgive him... Please.” Meena begged.
"Forgive?" Locha leaned down and closer to Meena's face, his elongated face running the length of her head to her shoulder. "Did you show any forgiveness when you caged me?" He smiled, showing monstrous teeth. "This one is distraught, a matter of a broken heart. He suppresses it but all I had to do was reach out and bring it to the forefront of all that he is." Locha turned to Selarch. "He smells delicious, look at him, Goddess, see how he begs for the void's kiss."
"Please." She turned her red eyes to Selarch who stood immobile and Leba saw the crystal clear tear trickling down her cheek.
Locha swiped a hand before Selarch once more and the man collapsed into a heap of grey ash that floated on a none existent current that traveled to land upon Locha's grey skin. The being smiled and inhaled the ash deeply through slit nostrils, his long ears twitching and hair like black glass trembling with euphoria. "Aaaaah. This one has lived long, looooong, my, my, my Meena. So much sex with you, so much passion. Aaaaah this one has lived. What a treat!" Locha said.
Meena let out an anguished scream and a single sun appeared to her left, bathing her in a golden glow that appeared to recede before it touched Locha. She twisted herself, lengthening the distance between herself and Locha's grip on her shoulder, far enough to allow her to jump and land double kicks on Locha's midriff that were enough to fling the hideous creature away but not before he tore a chunk of her flesh with his claws as they separated. The Goddess of Order landed into her single manifested sun that quickly ate her up and vanished. Leaving behind a trail of golden liquid, the only evidence of her ever having been there.
Locha rose off the ground to stand at his fullest towering height. He flexed his boney shoulders and regarded his left claw that had golden liquid at the tips of its nails. "Huh, she's stronger than I thought." A long slimy tongue erupted from the being's mouth that lapped greedily at Meena's blood. Leba watched while trembling until the God of the Void finished his meal and turned to him with a ghastly smile. "You are the one who did the ritual that partially freed me?" Locha asked in a cold raspy voice that beckoned to Leba's desire for oblivion.
"Yes." Leba answered with a whisper.
"Give me your innocence."
"You can have it."
Locha's wide smile became even wider.